Battlefield 3... confirmed -with a catch- (straight from the horses mouth)

[ColonelCain]

Well, I have talked to an old friend who gave me some insite into BF3. He has his knowledge from talking with developers and testers. I trust him. He spends a lot of time in the gaming world (but not Wow!), and he is not a young adult.

So he reassures me that BF3 is built to be the PC experience. Much in the same way that BF2 had it's counterpart released on console, but with no comparison to the PC version. We should see all we expect in terms of vehicles from BF2 but even more. Console will be 8v8, PC will have 32v32 with large maps. There is a new command structure. Squads are 4 man with a map commander and some intermediate commander (fuzzy on that detail). Work has been going on since 2008. BFBC2 is being used to provide insite into BF3s development.

Take from this what you will. It is just me recalling what he was recalling. It has me excited though - there is hope!

I do hope so.

[El Mano]

Any news on the engine? The actual BC2 engine has lag problems, I'd like to know how are they going to deal with them in 32v32 games.

[Chickenfeed]

I personally didn't find the Frostbite 2 engine to be any worse than BF2s as far as netcode is concerned. Sure BF3 has room for improvement without a doubt but anything could be better than 2.

[ColonelCain]

I personally didn't find the Frostbite 2 engine to be any worse than BF2s as far as netcode is concerned. Sure BF3 has room for improvement without a doubt but anything could be better than 2.

Dice has not been particularly clear about it, but the BC2 version is supposedly Frostbite 1.5.

[Chickenfeed]

Right you are. The incremental update should suggest BF3 will likely be running on Frostbite 2 which in itself should be an evolution of the current engine. As for that proving to be good or bad... we shall see.

[RAW-Raptor22]

Well I am hopeful.

The first FPS I ever played was BF1942, it got me into PC gaming in a big way. I own and still play 1942 along with with Vietnam, BF2, and 2142. The formula is there, EA just needs to avoid goobering it up...